Comey ‘fell for fake document’ at heart of scandal
UNITED STATES: A dubious document produced by Russian spies allegedly pushed James Comey, when he was head of the FBI, to make aspects of an investigation into Hillary Clinton public last year, a move that Democrats argue helped Donald Trump win the White House.
Comey’s decision to speak publicly about an investigation into Clinton’s email server infuriated her supporters and perplexed many of his FBI colleagues. The former FBI chief, who was fired by President Donald Trump this month, had seemed to ignore a longstanding edict forbidding the bureau from commenting on cases.
It has now been claimed that Comey was influenced by a document obtained by the FBI in March 2016, during the presidential primaries. The document was purportedly produced by Russian spies. It alleged that the US Department of Justice had secretly assured a senior Democratic leader that it would not investigate Clinton too vigorously.
According to The Washington Post, the document was pivotal in Comey’s decision to hold a highly unusual press conference in July, when he said the server investigation was over but was fiercely critical of Clinton. The announcement would, in turn, influence his decision to reveal that the investigation was being revived, just 11 days before election day, when the FBI discovered a new cache of emails.
Comey apparently believed that the Russian document would, if it became public, destroy the credibility of the Clinton investigation. He is said to have decided to demonstrate that the FBI was acting independently from the justice department, which was not told about his July press conference.
It is thought that the purported Russian document may have been a fake, designed to confuse the FBI. An alleged email it described concerning Lynch and written by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then the pro-Clinton chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, has apparently never been found by US investigators.
The news added another twist to a Russia-related plot line that promises to haunt the White House for months as it battles to kickstart a stalled legislative agenda.
An official forecast of the impact of healthcare reforms championed by Trump sent a wave of horror through moderate Republicans yesterday. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that the plan, which has been passed by the House of Representatives, would result in 23 million fewer Americans having health insurance in 10 years. A 64-yearold who pays US$1700 a year for health insurance under former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act could see the cost rise to US$16,100.
Mitch McConnell, the senior Republican in the Senate, suggested Trump’s proposals would struggle to pass the chamber and become law.
- The Times